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Read the latest news from Shape5

Last week we launched a new demo page to our site! The new demo makes browsing much easier, and highlights our latest themes as well. Each design has a large screenshot and product description in the main drop down menu, so now you can find just what you're looking for very easily and quickly. In addition to that we have grouped our Joomla and Wordpress products on the same page so you can see the full array of all Shape5 products in one consolidated area.



Lastly if you are logged into the main site of shape5.com and then visit the demo you will see a download button on the items that your current membership allows access for. So you can demo and download all in one place!

Be sure to check it out, and we hope you all enjoy the improvement!

We have received a lot of questions regarding the compatibility of Joomla 2.5 and our products. We realize that all the recent version numbers of Joomla ie: 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, and soon to be 2.5, can be very confusing. We'd like to clarify this and make it very simple to understand.

Will our products work with Joomla 2.5? Yes, absolutely they will work! Any product that works currently with Joomla 1.7 will work with Joomla 2.5 with no issues at all.

Will you need to install a component to upgrade your site from 1.7 to 2.5? No, the upgrade from 1.7 to 2.5 is very easily done from the backend of Joomla. No downloads or file extractions will be needed. No new installation will be created, it will simply upgrade your existing files. It's really that simple.

Will we continue to support Joomla 1.5 products? We will adhere to the Jooma life cycle of each Joomla version. Joomla will discontinue support on 1.5 in April 2012. This means that as of April 1, 2012 we will no longer be creating new 1.5 compatible products, and will focus on Joomla 1.7/2.5 products. We will continue support on 1.5 products through the end of 2012. Do not let the new version number scare you, the upgrade from 1.7 to 2.5 is nothing like 1.5 to 1.6+, and can be done in a matter of minutes. If you have not begun the move to 1.7+ we would highly recommend this so that your site stays up to date with the latest features and security updates.

What products do you offer that are compatible with Joomla 1.7+? Our list of compatible products can be found at the following url:

http://www.shape5.com/joomla/product_compatability/current_joomla_product_compatability_list.html

We will continue to convert older 1.5 products to the newer 1.7+ platform, so please check this page often. Any site shaper listed as 1.7 can simply be installed and upgraded to 2.5 when it becomes available.

We are happy to announce that we now have some basic Joomla PDF tutorials available on our site! The tutorials will help you get started setting up a site shaper, installing a template/extensions, changing your logo and lastly setting up a database in phpmyadmin for a new Joomla install.

 We hope these tutorials provide a helping hand in getting you started in the Joomla world. You don't have to be logged in to view just click the view button for whichever version you are running (current version includes 1.6 and 1.7):

http://www.shape5.com/joomla_tutorials.html

We have updated the plugn and fixed the following issues:

1) Thumbnails do not get created if you use anything else but lower case in the file name.  CAPs, spaces, numbers, etc don't work

2) When using google chrome and adding attributes once your cursor hits the first attributes price box your done. Can't tab or even click out of that box.

 The plugin is available in the downloads area to club members only.

 Cheers!

We are happy to publish a new member bonus page that gives all club members coupons and discounts on some top Joomla extensions and services!  Currently the page is offering discounts on up to 11 different sites in the Joomla community.  These discounts will come and go as they expire and we receive new ones so keep this in mind. Don't delay on purchasing that extension you've been thinking about and keep checking back every so often for new discounts!  We hope this just adds that much more benefit to your Shape 5 club membership, enjoy!

Check them out here: http://www.shape5.com/promotions/member_bonuses/

You can reference this blog post to check the status on the conversion process of all Shape 5 Joomla products.

Please note - 1.5 to 1.6 conversions can take a considerable amount of time, each template is different, but we expect to have all of our templates converted in the next few weeks/months. Site shapers will not be available until all of our templates have been converted and some issues with the JUpgrade component are addressed or another suitable upgrade component becomes available.

 

Our conversion page has moved. Click here to proceed to the new page.

The release of Joomla 1.6

Today marks the official release of Joomla 1.6 stable. The release brings us ACL out of the box, no longer installing 3rd party extensions to achieve this! It also gives us more powerful SEO options throughout to give you control on how your site appears in the search engines and many other features. For more info, demo and download check out: http://www.joomla.org/announcements/general-news/5348-joomlar-16-has-arrived.html

Although this is the newest release for the Joomla world and it's marked as stable we at Shape 5 do not recommend rushing to upgrade and convert over to it right away. Why do we say this, we do believe (as seen in many industries) it's best to wait a few weeks or so and see how this version plays out. Bugs can still arise and things may need to be ironed out before you take the jump to 1.6. The bug squad with Joomla has done a tremendous job ironing out as many bugs as they could find to this point, we are simply offering a word of caution that could be applied to any first release of software. In addition to this there are over 6,000 extensions currently available for Joomla 1.5 and very few have been converted and tested with Joomla 1.6. If you need Joomla for a bare bones system with no third party extensions then 1.6 may be right for you but if you need flexibility and access to thousands of extensions it's best to still use 1.5 for a little while.

So where is Shape 5 at in the whole scheme of things and 1.6?

Although we haven't said much we've been working hard and have the majority of our extensions converted to 1.6 as you may have already noticed in the downloads area, with only 3 pending conversion, with the exception of Virtuemart extensions. Over the next few weeks we will be hard at work converting and releasing our templates to the 1.6 platform and finalizing the rest of our extension conversion. Our monthly template release this coming Saturday the 15th will include a 1.6 ready version of the template. Virtuemart extensions will be converted after Virtuemart 1.5 becomes stable.

Ok that covers 1.6 but what about a framework for Shape 5?

As you may have noticed the template parameters area of our recent templates has become quite extensive! The eShopper template is the first release that includes a naming scheme, robust module layout, mobile version, custom widths, and so much more. These features will be carried in to future templates. This framework first released in eShopper gives unlimited possibilities and flexibility for site layouts. We just wanted to give you a heads up. No ETA is set but we are planning on an official release of a the Shape 5 "Vertex Framework" in the near future that will be packed with features! In the mean time our in-progress templates will include many of the features that will be included in the finalized framework.

Our August Affiliate Contest has officially come to an end and it's time to announce our three lucky winners! It was a very tight competition but three emerged on top:

1st - bestofjoomla - www.bestofjoomla.com
2nd - webbyjoom - www.webbyplanet.com
3rd - surendranh - www.premium-joomlathemes.com

Thank you not just three affiliates but all who participated!

Want to earn some easy cash? During the month of August we are running a contest for all Shape 5 Affiliates.  You will have a chance to earn one of three prizes depending on how many sales you generate through your site during the month of August.  The sites that produce the most affiliate sales will be rewarded cash prizes!

For many of us Joomla has provided an additional source of income or even a full blown business.  Joomla has enabled designers, developers and business owners to all connect and create some amazing components, templates, etc.  We are happy to notice the support Joomla link on joomla.org and we hope that if any of you have received financial benefit from the project that you give a little back.  The entire Joomla team is comprised of individuals giving of their personal time to keep the project going.  Imagine how much more can be done with Joomla if it actually was fully funded and supported!


http://opensourcematters.org/support-joomla.html